Ministry of Defence

National Flagship: Procurement

Emily Thornberry: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, with reference to the Government's press release, New national flagship to promote British businesses around the world, published 30 May 2021 and the Government's statement that the flagship will showcase cutting-edge British design, for what reason it is his policy that an international competition is required for the design of that ship.

Emily Thornberry: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, whether potential suppliers of (a) design services and (b) construction services for the UK’s national flagship will be permitted to attend the industry day organised by his Department for potential suppliers if those suppliers are not based in the UK.

Emily Thornberry: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, whether he plans to make it a condition for potential suppliers to progress to the invitation to negotiate phase of procurement for the UK’s national flagship that the (a) design and (b) construction of the ship will be carried out in the UK.

Mr Ben Wallace: As set out in the Prior Information Notice published on 2 July 2021, the National Flagship will be built in the UK. The Ministry of Defence will conduct an international competition for the design of the ship in order to ensure that we can procure a world-class design and UK companies will be encouraged to participate. The Prior Information Notice places no restriction on the nationality of the participants in the planned period of market engagement. This is an opportunity for talented British designers to work alongside international partners to develop a truly outstanding design for the National Flagship.

National Flagship: Procurement

Emily Thornberry: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, whether the procurement process he has launched for the (a) design and (b) construction of the UK’s national flagship is covered by the security exception set out in Article III of the WTO Government Procurement Agreement.

Emily Thornberry: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, whether the procurement process he has launched for the (a) design and (b) construction of the UK’s national flagship is covered by the warships exception set out in Item 47 of Annex 4 of the coverage schedules certified as part of the UK’s accession to the WTO Government Procurement Agreement.

Mr Ben Wallace: The procurement of the Flagship will be compliant with the UK’s obligations, under the WTO Government Procurement Agreement. Construction of the National Flagship will be limited to the UK in order to protect the essential interests of national security. As set out in the Prior Information Notice published on 2 July 2021, the National Flagship will be built in the UK. The Ministry of Defence will conduct a competition for the design of the ship in order to ensure that we can procure a world-class design which UK companies will be encouraged to bid for.

Department of Health and Social Care

Cancer: Young People

James Daly: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what support is available for teenage cancer patients.

Jo Churchill: NHS England and NHS Improvement have established a task and finish group to review psychosocial support for people affected by cancer, including young people. NHS England and NHS Improvement are also preparing a toolkit of existing good practice and guidelines to help systems to improve psychological support and mental health care.

Coronavirus: Disease Control

Ben Bradley: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, pursuant to the Answer of 23 June 2021 to Question 16206 on Coronavirus: Disease Control, if he will publish the first quarterly report by the University of St Andrews on the progress of the trials on evaluating the efficacy of viricidal Far-UVC light technology and its ability to inactivate virus in droplets, aerosols and on surfaces in simulated public locations.

Jo Churchill: The quarterly report is intended for future publication alongside the final report on the trials in spring 2022.

Coronavirus: Vaccination

Rosie Cooper: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what plans he has to help ensure the future protection for people who are (a) immunocompromised and (b) immunosuppressed who may still be at risk from covid-19 despite the vaccine rollout.

Jo Churchill: Immunocompromised individuals are a priority cohort for research into therapeutic and prophylaxis treatments, such as monoclonal antibody therapies, novel antivirals and repurposed compounds. The National Health Service is also developing plans to deploy monoclonal antibody therapies if these become available in coming months.In addition, subject to final advice from the Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation, those most vulnerable to COVID-19 may be offered a booster vaccination. Until these treatments are available, patients with immunosuppression are advised to continue following advice to reduce their chance of exposure.

Coronavirus: Disease Control

Dame Diana Johnson: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what the threshold is of covid-19-related (a) cases, (b) hospitalisations and (c) deaths that would delay the removal of restrictions on 19 July 2021.

Dame Diana Johnson: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether his Department has a threshold for the (a) r rate, (b) number of covid-19 related hospitalisations and (c) number of covid-19 related deaths at which the Government would introduce covid-19 restrictions after 19 July 2021.

Jo Churchill: There are no defined thresholds for the R-rate, COVID-19 hospitalisations or COVID-19 deaths to trigger changes in restrictions after 19 July 2021.The data assessment for moving to each step of the roadmap was based on the following four tests: the vaccine deployment programme continuing successfully; evidence showing vaccines are sufficiently effective in reducing hospitalisations and deaths in those vaccinated; infection rates do not risk a surge in hospitalisations which would put unsustainable pressure on the National Health Service (NHS); and our assessment of the risks is not fundamentally changed by new Variants of Concern.The Government will continue to monitor the data to ensure that there is no danger of the NHS facing unsustainable pressure.

General Practitioners: Females

Mr Barry Sheerman: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what proportion of female GPs left the NHS in each of the last five years.

Jo Churchill: Data on the proportion of female GPs who leave the National Health Service is not collected.

General Practitioners

Navendu Mishra: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, if he will make an assessment of the impact on older people of not being able to access face-to-face appointments with GPs.

Jo Churchill: General practice is open and has been throughout the pandemic. Appointment numbers have risen to 32.2 million in May 2021 and over half of all appointments were face to face.We continue to work with NHS England and NHS Improvement and general practice to assess the impact of different types of appointment and to improve access for all patient groups. The Public Sector Equality Duty requires public authorities to have due regard to the impact of their policies on different protected characteristics, one of which is age. NHS England and NHS Improvement have commissioned an independent evaluation to understand the impact for staff, patients and the wider health and care system of using digital tools in primary care to inform its long-term strategy.

Coronavirus: Screening

Jonathan Ashworth: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, if he will publish the evidence that was considered by the Medicines and Healthcare Products Regulatory Agency to inform its decision to extend the Exceptional Use Authorisation for covid-19 lateral flow tests for a further two months, as announced on 17 June 2021.

Jo Churchill: In support of the application to the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) to extend the Exceptional Use Authorisation (EUA) for COVID-19 lateral flow tests, the Department submitted an extension request which relied on the documentation provided in the initial EUA submission and a preliminary performance analysis on repeat and one off testing.Instructions for use and packaging formed part of this application, both of which can be found in the NHS Test and Trace COVID-19 Self-Test kit.A number of scientific publications were also considered in the initial application to award an EUA and links to these can be found below:Estimating the extent of asymptomatic COVID-19 and its potential for community transmission: systematic review and meta-analysis: https://jammi.utpjournals.press/doi/10.3138/jammi-2020-0030Paper: Covid-19: Innova lateral flow test is not fit for “test and release” strategy, say experts: https://www.bmj.com/content/371/bmj.m4469Research article: Differential occupational risks to healthcare workers from SARS-CoV-2 observed during a prospective observational study: https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/32820721/Article: Duration of infectiousness and correlation with RT-PCR cycle threshold values in cases of COVID-19, England, January to May 2020: https://www.eurosurveillance.org/content/10.2807/1560-7917.ES.2020.25.32.2001483Results of the SAFE School Hesse Study: https://www.medrxiv.org/content/10.1101/2020.12.04.20243410v1Quantifying SARS-CoV-2 transmission suggests epidemic control with digital contact tracing: https://science.sciencemag.org/content/368/6491/eabb6936Effectiveness of isolation, testing, contact tracing, and physical distancing on reducing transmission of SARS-CoV-2 in different settings: https://www.thelancet.com/journals/laninf/article/PIIS1473-3099(20)30457-6/fulltextSARS-CoV-1 2 viral dynamics in acute infections: https://www.medrxiv.org/content/10.1101/2020.10.21.20217042v2Test sensitivity is secondary to frequency and turnaround time for COVID-19 surveillance: https://www.medrxiv.org/content/10.1101/2020.06.22.20136309v3Rapid testing strategies for traced contacts: comparing quarantine, quarantine and testing, and repeat daily testing: https://cmmid.github.io/topics/covid19/daily_testing.htmlHead-to-head comparison of SARS-CoV-2 antigen-detecting rapid test with self-collected anterior nasal swab versus professional collected nasopharyngeal swab: https://www.medrxiv.org/content/10.1101/2020.10.26.20219600v1Rethinking Covid-19 Test Sensitivity — A Strategy for Containment: https://www.nejm.org/doi/full/10.1056/nejmp2025631 The MHRA also asked as part of their conditions that lateral flow device performance data from October 2020 to May 2021 would be provided and published as soon as possible. This is available at the following link:https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/lateral-flow-device-performance-data

Disease Control

Caroline Lucas: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, if he will list the names of each Government pandemic exercise held from 2010 onwards; what the (a) remit and (b) purpose was of Exercise Alice in 2016; when details of (i) Exercise Alice and (ii) all other exercises were provided to key advisory committees; and if he will publish a report to Parliament on the relevance of each exercise to the covid-19 pandemic.

Jo Churchill: The Department does not hold details relating to all exercises conducted across Government. However, the Department has led on two pandemic preparedness exercises. The most recent exercise to test preparedness for an influenza pandemic was Exercise Cygnus in 2016. The report from Exercise Cygnus was published in October 2020 alongside information on how elements of our pandemic influenza plans were used in response to COVID-19. This report is available at the following link:https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/927770/exercise-cygnus-report.pdfIn February 2020, Exercise Nimbus rehearsed Ministerial-level decision-making in relation to the United Kingdom’s pandemic preparedness and response within the context of what was known at that point about COVID-19. We are unable to provide further information on this exercise as it relates to the formulation or development of Government policy.Exercise Alice was held in February 2016 to test health system capabilities and protocols in the event of a larger outbreak, below pandemic level, of a high consequence infectious disease. We are unable to provide further information on this exercise as publication at the current time would be likely to prejudice the effective conduct of public affairs.Reports of all such exercises are shared with attendees, officials and advisory committees as appropriate following the completion of the exercises. Working closely with the recently established UK Health Security Agency, partners across the health system and with wider Government, the Department is committed to using the lessons from COVID-19 to continue to ensure that future exercises support the UK’s preparedness for all types of health protection threats.

General Practitioners: Coronavirus

Sir Mark Hendrick: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what assessment he has made of the health impacts of (a) cancelled in-person GP visits and (b) virtual or telephone appointments during the covid-19 outbreak.

Jo Churchill: We continue to work with NHS England and NHS Improvement to assess the impacts of missed appointments and the use of remote consultations. In addition, NHS England and NHS Improvement have commissioned an independent evaluation to understand the impact for staff, patients and the wider health and care system of using digital tools in primary care to inform its long-term strategy.Appointment numbers have risen to over 31.5 million in April 2021, with over half, or 54.8% of all appointments face to face and 40.7% telephone appointments.

Travel: Quarantine

Clive Efford: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, if any outbreaks of newcovid-19 variants have originated from people in quarantine in hotels having just arrived from abroad; and if he will make a statement.

Jo Churchill: This information is not held centrally. However, the Scientific Advisory Group for Emergencies’ Environmental Modelling Group Transmission sub-group is currently reviewing the evidence on the risk of transmission in hotels, including mobile quarantine facilities. This will be published by autumn 2021.

Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs

Horticulture: Inspections

Kevin Hollinrake: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, when his Department plans to begin work with the ornamental horticulture industry on developing a trusted trader inspection regime.

Victoria Prentis: GB's plant health regime is risk-based, and the history of compliance of specific trades (where the trade is the combination of a specific commodity from a specific origin), is a significant factor in determining biosecurity risk. Consequently, trades with a proven track record of compliance and meeting prescribed eligibility criteria may be subject to a reduced frequency or intensity of checks.While the biosecurity risk of imported goods is largely trade based, there are areas where trader considerations may also play a role. For example, as the phased introduction of EU-GB plant health import controls is completed in early 2022, Defra is exploring possible options for performing plant health controls away from the border on a longer-term basis, such as increased uptake in the use of designated plant health Control Points. Eligibility criteria to be designated as a Control Point may include elements consistent with a trusted trader model.

Marine Environment

Sarah Olney: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, if he will agree ambitious targets for ocean recovery with the devolved Adminstrations.

Rebecca Pow: The Government has already agreed ambitious targets for ocean recovery with the Devolved Administrations, through our statutory UK Marine Strategy (UKMS). The UKMS sets out a vision for UK waters to achieve clean, safe, healthy, biologically diverse and productive seas, which are used sustainably. It also provides a legal framework, agreed with the Devolved Administrations, for assessing and monitoring the status of our seas and to put in place the measures needed to achieve Good Environmental Status (GES). In October 2019 we published an updated UKMS Part One which provided an assessment of UK marine waters, objectives for GES and targets and indicators to measure progress towards GES. Meanwhile, the updated UKMS Part Two, published in March 2021, sets out the monitoring programmes we will use to assess those targets and indicators in the period up to 2024. We are currently in the process of developing an updated UKMS Part Three, which will set out an updated programmes of measures for achieving or maintaining GES, and aim to consult on this later in 2021. The UKMS demonstrates the combined commitments of the UK Government and the Devolved Administrations to work together to protect our biologically diverse and productive seas. However, to protect our seas and facilitate ocean recovery effectively, we also need to work with other countries. The UK plays a leading role in OSPAR (the regional sea convention for the North East Atlantic). We coordinate our efforts with our neighbours to ensure the best protection for our seas whilst maintaining their sustainable use.